This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the Japanese Patent Applications No. 11-116385, filed Apr. 23, 1999; No. 11-323257, filed Nov. 12, 1999; and No. 11-227697, filed Aug. 11, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which images the state of an internal organ or a blood flow using an ultrasonic wave and diagnoses it.
An ultrasonic image diagnostic apparatus is a diagnostic apparatus which irradiates a desired portion of an object (patient) with an ultrasonic wave and obtains a tomographic image of a soft tissue on the basis of the reflected wave from the object. In recent years, the performance of ultrasonic image diagnostic apparatuses is remarkably improved so that various examination methods and clinical applications to be described below are enabled.
Basic examination methods for ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses include B-mode 2D tomography, a Doppler method called a PW or CW mode, a color Doppler method called a CDFM mode which images a blood flow, and in recent years, TDI (Tissue Doppler Imaging) which images the movement of a tissue, a 3D method of three-dimensionally displaying a tissue, and a 4D method of displaying a three-dimensional image as a moving image. These examination methods are executed in accordance with clinical applications such as a stress echo method, a contrast echo method, and ACM used to measure the cardiac output of a heart and therefore can provide useful clinical information about an object.
Such a variety of examination methods produce the following aspects in association with use of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.
For example, to use an apparatus by exploiting the above-described various functions, many switching operations (keyboard, touch panel, trackball, mouse, and the like) are necessary. To exploit the various functions of individual examination methods, an operator such as a doctor or a technician must learn operation techniques for individual functions.
Generally, an examination by an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is comprised of a combination of a plurality of operations including acquisition of a plurality of data and image measurement. This combination changes in units of facilities (medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics, or diagnostic departments in one medical facility) where ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses are installed. Even for examinations with the same contents, the operation procedure changes in units of operators (doctors or examination technicians). Hence, the variety of examination methods further increases the degree of freedom of examination operations.
Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses are becoming inexpensive. As the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses become inexpensive, they are being introduced not only in large hospitals but also in many other hospitals. Since the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses are widespread, the population of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus users is steadily increasing, including skilled persons and beginners.
Under these circumstances, demand has arisen for an apparatus which can be easily operated by either a skilled person or a beginner in accordance with the degree of experience of the operator and realize accurate diagnosis.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object to provide an apparatus which can be easily operated by either a skilled person or a beginner in accordance with the degree of experience of the operator and realize accurate diagnosis.
The present invention according to the first aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities each of which is defined by arrangement of activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order; input means for inputting predetermined information in respect of diagnostic; selection means for selecting an operation procedure from the plurality of operation procedures on the basis of the information; display means for displaying the operation procedure selected by said selection means; and control means for executing each operation corresponding to each activity in accordance with the displayed operation procedure.
The present invention according to the second aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities each of which is defined by arrangement of activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order; input means for inputting predetermined information in respect of diagnostic; selection means for selecting a operation procedure from the plurality of operation procedures on the basis of the information; display means for displaying the operation procedure selected by said selection means; activity selection means for selecting an activity which composes the displayed operation procedure, in accordance with an instruction by operator; and control means for executing an operation corresponding to the activity according to the displayed operation procedure in order and, if an activity is selected by said activity selection means, executing an operation corresponding to the activity selected by said activity selection means.
The present invention according to the third aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities each of which is defined by arrangement of activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order; input means for inputting predetermined information in respect of diagnostic; selection means for selecting an operation procedure from the plurality of operation procedures on the basis of the information; display means for displaying the operation procedure selected by said selection means; change means for changing composition of the displayed operation procedure in such a manner that a predetermined activity is added to the displayed operation procedure or is omitted from the displayed operation procedure at an arbitrary timing; and control means for executing an operation corresponding to the activity which composes a changed operation procedure in a case that the displayed operation procedure is changed by said change means and executing an operation corresponding to the activity which composes the selected operation procedure in a case that the displayed operation procedure is not changed.
The present invention according to the fourth aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of operation procedures each of which arranges activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order to define an operation procedure; input means for inputting predetermined information in respect of diagnostic; selection means for selecting a operation procedure from the plurality of operation procedures on the basis of the information; display means for displaying the operation procedure selected by said selection means and, if an activity selected by operator is associated with a sub-operation procedure, displaying the sub-operation procedure; and control means for executing control of an activity selected from the activities which compose the displayed operation procedure or the displayed sub-operation procedure.
The present invention according to the fifth aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities each of which contains branched operations and is defined by arrangement of activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order; input means for inputting predetermined information in respect of diagnostic; selection means for selecting a operation procedure from the plurality of operation procedures on the basis of the information; display means for displaying the operation procedure selected by said selection means in such a manner that the selected operation procedure contains branches of an operation; and control means for executing operation corresponding to each activity in order according to the displayed operation procedure.
The present invention according to the sixth aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of examination item lists corresponding to a plurality of data acquisition items and measurement items; selection means for selecting an examination item list from the plurality of the examination item lists; data acquisition and measurement means for executing an data acquisition and a measurement corresponding to a data acquisition item and a measurement item on the selected examination item list; and display means for displaying simultaneously the data acquisition item and the measurement item corresponding to the selected examination item list and a mark which represents whether the data acquisition or the measurement is executed; and change means for changing whether the displayed acquisition or the displayed measurement is executed, by manual operation.
The present invention according to the seventh aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of examination lists corresponding to a plurality of data acquisition items and measurement items; selection means for selecting an examination item list from the plurality of examination item lists; data acquisition and measurement means for executing data acquisition and a measurement corresponding to the data acquisition item and the measurement item on the selected examination item list; and display means for displaying simultaneously the data acquisition item and the measurement item corresponding to the selected examination item list and a mark which represents whether each of the data acquisitions and the measurements is executed; and communication means for transmitting/receiving information of the examination item list through a network.
The present invention according to the eighth aspect is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities each of which is defined by arrangement of a plurality of data acquisition items and measurement items in a predetermined order; control means for executing data acquisitions and measurements corresponding to the plurality of the data acquisition items and the measurement items on the plurality of the examination item lists; and output means for outputting data in respect of the plurality of the data acquisition items and the measurement items in a predetermined format.
The present invention according to the ninth aspect is a control method of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: selecting a predetermined operation procedure from a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities, stored in advance, each of which is defined by arrangement by activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order on the basis of information in respect of diagnostic; displaying the selected operation procedure; and executing each operation corresponding to each activity in accordance with the displayed operation procedure.
The present invention according to the tenth aspect is a control method of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: selecting a predetermined operation procedure from a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities, stored in advance, each of which arranges activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order on the basis of information in respect of diagnostic; displaying the selected operation procedure; selecting an activity which composes the displayed operation procedure, in accordance with an instruction by operator; executing each operation corresponding to each activity in accordance with the displayed operation procedure in order; and executing an operation corresponding to a selected activity if an another activity is selected in progress of the each operation.
The present invention according to the eleventh aspect is a control method of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: selecting a predetermined operation procedure from a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities, stored in advance, each of which is defined by arrangement of activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order on the basis of information in respect of diagnostic; displaying the selected operation procedure; selecting an activity which composes the displayed operation procedure, in accordance with an instruction by operator; changing composition of the displayed operation procedure in such a manner that a predetermined activity is added to the displayed operation procedure or is omitted from the displayed operation procedure at an arbitrary timing; and executing an operation corresponding to the activity which composes a changed operation procedure.
The present invention according to the twelfth aspect is a control method of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: selecting a predetermined operation procedure from a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities, stored in advance, each of which arranges activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order on the basis of information in respect of diagnostic; displaying the selected operation procedure; displaying a sub-operation procedure if an activity selected by operator, which composes the displayed operation procedure, is associated with a sub-operation procedure; and executing control of the activity selected from the activities which compose the displayed operation procedure or the displayed sub-operation procedure.
The present invention according to the thirteenth aspect is a control method of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: selecting a predetermined operation procedure from a plurality of operation procedures formed of activities, stored by storage means, each of which contains branched operations and is defined by arrangement of activities constructed by at least one of functions of said ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in a predetermined order on the basis of inputted information in respect of diagnostic; displaying the selected operation procedure in such a manner that the selected operation procedure contains branches of an operation; and executing operation corresponding to the each of activities in order according to the displayed operation procedure.
The present invention according to the fourteenth aspect is a control method of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: selecting a predetermined examination item list from a plurality of examination item lists, stored in advance, each of which corresponds to a plurality of data acquisition items and measurement items; executing each data acquisition and a measurement in respect to each of the data acquisition item and the measurement item composes the selected examination item list; displaying simultaneously the data acquisition item and the measurement item corresponding to the selected examination item list and a mark which represents whether the data acquisition or the measurement is executed; and changing the mark which represents whether the displayed acquisition or the displayed measurement is executed by manual operation.
The present invention according to the fifteenth aspect is a control method of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: selecting an examination item list from a plurality of examination lists which is stored in advance and is composed of a plurality of data acquisition items and measurement items; executing an data acquisition and a measurement corresponding to the data acquisition item and the measurement item on the selected examination item list; and displaying simultaneously the data acquisition item and the measurement item corresponding to the selected examination item list and a mark which represents whether each of the data acquisitions and the measurements is executed; and transmitting/receiving a information of the examination item list through a network.
The present invention according to the sixteenth aspect is a control method of a ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which comprises the steps of: executing data acquisitions and measurements corresponding to a plurality of operation procedures each of which is stored in advance and defined by arrangement of a plurality of data acquisition items and measurement items in a predetermined order; and outputting data in respect of the plurality of the data acquisition items and the measurement items in a predetermined format.
According to any one of the aspects described above, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can be easily operated by either a skilled person or a beginner in accordance with the degree of experience of the operator and realize accurate diagnosis.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.